History Fanfic / TowardsTheSun

* NotSoDifferent: Iroh isn't above his RoyallyScrewedUp family. Events prove that Iroh can be just as ruthless as Azula and Ozai, [[spoiler: and just as an abusive father figure as his brother]]. He also shares their entitlement [[spoiler: such as his treatment of the servants and soldiers under him and his dismissal of Non-Benders, it's just less immediately obvious compared to the others in the family.]] Iroh didn't even mean any of it intentionally.

* OhCrap: Sokka experiences this [[spoiler: when he sees [[NotSoDifferent Iroh]]'s ruthless takedown of Azula after claiming the throne, and figures out from the servant's [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating reactions]] and Iroh's [[UnintentionallyInsensitive treatment]] of them (and him) that Iroh's reign is ''[[{{Understatement}} not]]'' [[{{Understatement}}going to be an easy or celebrated one]], and thet the Gaang are now ''[[GoneHorriblyRight stuck]]'' supporting him. He laments that they should never have taken [[ALighterShadeOfBlack Iroh]] on as Aang's Firebending teacher, and found someone who ''wasn't'' related to [[RoyallyScrewedUp the Throne]] to train him.]]

'''Zuko''': Thank you for the lesson, ''[[NotSoDifferent father]].''

** Zuko finally had someone overthrow him and take the Fire Lord's responsibilities from him. Unfortunately, it's [[TheQuisling Iroh]], who if left to rule is going to drive the Fire Nation to destruction.

* LoyalToThePosition: Captain Izumi's loyalty is to the Fire Lord, whether that Fire Lord is sociopathic like Ozai, insane like Azula, or [[spoiler:tends to dethrone his own nephew like Iroh.]] Because of this, she doesn't feel like she has a right to interfere when royal clashes against royal, such as [[spoiler: the Agni Kai between Zuko and Iroh]], and felt she had to obey [[spoiler:Iroh's]] orders afterwards no matter her own misgivings. [[spoiler:She finally breaks away from this in Chapter 28, affirming her loyalty to Zuko personally and helping him, Azula, and all the prisoners who decided to tag along escape the Boiling Rock.]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: An unnamed member of the royal guard is horrified when he burns Zuko as the attack was rather trivial and something any firebender could easily block or deflect. [[spoiler:He doesn't learn until later that Zuko ''can't'' firebend anymore]].

* LoyalToThePosition: Captain Izumi's loyalty is to the Fire Lord, whether that Fire Lord is sociopathic like Ozai, insane like Azula, or [[spoiler:tends to dethrone his own nephew like Iroh.]] Because of this, she doesn't feel like she has a right to interfere when royal clashes against royal, such as [[spoiler: the Agni Kai between Zuko and Iroh]], and felt she had obey [[spoiler:Iroh's]] orders afterwards no matter her own misgivings. [[spoiler:She finally breaks away from this in Chapter 28, affirming her loyalty to Zuko personally and helping him, Azula, and all the prisoners who decided to tag along escape the Boiling Rock.]]

** [[spoiler:Iroh's usurption against Zuko has done a lot of damage to his reputation. To the point that in Chapter 23, when Suki and Hakoda have the chance to escape the prison to be the new Fire Lord's 'honoured guests,' they adamantly refuse. They know that Iroh is working with the Avatar, but they are both so mistrusting of him they think they would be worse off with him. So Azula's offer of helping cause a civil war sounds much better. Even after Sokka tries to reassure them, Hakoda still prefers the civil war route and refuses to capture Zuko and Azula to ensure it, while Suki actually chooses to go with the siblings, saying she'll only meet with Iroh after he proves his sincerity.]]
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Zuko is the first Fire Lord in decades to openly care about his people and their safety over personal ambitions. He actively engages with his staff in the palace, is polite to his advisors and listens to them, and working with and listening to them to find the best ways to help the nation recover.
* RedundantRescue: Zuko's a victim of this three times:
** He ends up being captured when he attempts to break Iroh out of jail only to find that Iroh already escaped.
** When he goes to break Azula out of [[spoiler: her mental asylum]], Azula had already loosened the window. She didn't want to escape since she had nowhere to go. At this point Zuko bemoans the fact that no one he attempts to rescue actually needs him to escape.
** Mai and Ty Lee want to [[spoiler:break Suki out of the Boiling Rock and Suki wants to break out Hakoda as well. Suki and Hakoda were given royal pardons and would've been freed if they'd just waited another hour.]]
*** Although it would have been as [[spoiler:as the 'honoured guests' of Fire Lord Iroh, whom neither trust at all, so they would have tried to escape anyways if possible.]]

* BewareTheHonestOnes: Sokka notes that Zuko's manipulations are dangerous because he's too honest and does it unintentionally, which makes Zuko difficult to predict.

** When Azula hears Zuko go LaughingMad, she chides him for not making his laugh creepy enough.

* IfIWantedYouDead: The {{Inverted}} example from both Zuko and Azula. Azula's internal monologue points out that Zuko could have easily killed Azula a hundred times over, whether by poisoning her food or overwhelming her with guards or simply redirecting her lightning bolts back at her instead of into the walls or ceiling. When she finally mentions this to Zuko while they are both in prison, he points out that Azula could just as easily have had him killed while he was in jail, after she was made Fire Lord and Ozai left for the Earth Kingdom.

** Aang is very confused as to why his choice of sparing Ozai by taking his bending instead, utterly horrifies Zuko and his court.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Suki is furious about Zuko burning down her parts of Kyoshi island, but [[spoiler: Azula]] rightfully points out that by having the Avatar there, they had already broken their neutrality.
* JerkassRealization: Toph has a moment when she learns just how bad Zuko's burn scar is and remembers that she made a joke about burning her face off.

* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Azula shoots lightning at Zuko constantly, which has resulted in him having lightning-induced arrhythmia and all the heart problems that come with the condition. Zuko doesn't care, he has things to do. He also barely reacts when he tells her he can no longer fire bend.

* PlayAlongPrisoner: Azula stays in [[spoiler: Amigara asylum that Iroh forced her in]] because she had no where to go and all her family and friends abandoned her for all she knew. [[spoiler: Seeing Zuko attempting to break her out moved Azula to finally escape.]]

--->"I don't need a regent," he frowned.

** Zuko does this to Iroh again near his CallingTheOldManOut speech [[spoiler:during his coronation as Crown Prince]]

** All those people on Ozai’s war blimps under Sozin’s Comet were killed as well. In addition, Toph finds what she had to do very distressing, and is upset that Aang refuses to acknowledge what happened.
---> '''Toph:''' Because she and Katara and Sokka, they hadn't been expecting Aang to come back from his part of the comet fight with Ozai still breathing. And yeah, killing people was terrible, and no one should force kids like them to do things like that—but what did Aang think ''they'd'' been doing, up in the airship fleet? Why did ''he'' get to stay all clean but they had to— \\

** Zuko is the first Fire Lord in a century who wasn't an insane warmonger ruling through terror. He treats his staff like people and genuinely wants the best for his nation, agonizes over hard decisions that come from changing a war economy to a peaceful one. His staff adores him, and are genuinely upset [[spoiler: when he is deposed by Iroh]].

** Iroh's usurption against Zuko has done a lot of damage to his reputation. To the point that in chapter 23 [[spoiler:when Suki and Hakoda have the chance to escape the prison to be the new Fire Lord's 'honoured guests,' they adamantly refuse. They know that Iroh is working with the Avatar, but they are both so mistrusting of him they think they would be worse off with him. So Azula's offer of helping cause a civil war sounds much better.]]

** Mai and Ty Lee want to break Suki out of the Boiling Rock and Suki wants to break out Hakoda as well. [[spoiler:Suki and Hakoda given royal pardons and would've been freed if they'd just waited another hour.]]

* WhatDoesThisButtonDo: At the Boiling Rock, the group manages to keep the guards from hitting a button that will sound the alarm. Azula hits the button anyway because she was always curious about doing so.

* KnifeNut: Mai has created an impressive number of improvised knives while in prison, and yes she can throw them all with deliberate precision.

** Mai and Ty Lee [[spoiler:take Zuko hostage as leverage when he and Azula go to the Boiling Rock to free them, because they wanted him to include Suki and Hakoda in the breakout attempt. Only problem is, Suki and Hakoda have already been ''pardoned'' by Fire Lord Iroh and were free anyway, so all Mai and Ty Lee accomplished was delaying the siblings long enough that Sokka and Captain Izumi arrive with other elite royal guards, which makes escape difficult for them]].

** Mai and Ty Lee [[spoiler:take Zuko hostage as leverage when he and Azula go to the Boiling Rock to free them, because they wanted him to include Suki and Hakoda in the breakout attempt. Only problem is, Suki and Hakoda have already been ''pardoned'' by Fire Lord Iroh and were free anyway, so all Mai and Ty Lee accomplished was delaying the siblings long enough that Sokka and Captain Izumi arrive with other elite royal guards, which makes escape impossible for them]].

** Iroh is the worst contender though, as he is frankly terrible at being open with what he's doing and why, and keeps digging himself deeper. He, and a noticeable faction of the Fire Nation military, want Iroh to be Zuko’s regent, which would definitely smooth things over. Especially since while Zuko is an incredibly (and surprisingly) popular gifted Fire Lord, but is still too young, and frankly working himself to death. This also would have reassured the Avatar and his companions about the Fire Nation’s intentions, and thus leave everybody satisfied. However Iroh basically just springs the idea on Zuko, and the fact that he has not said anything beforehand about his personal politics, means his nephew does not feel he can trust him with such an important position. The situation then worsens when Iroh doesn't properly explain beforehand why he challenged Zuko to an Agni Kai, so the whole thing is seen as the Dragon of the West deliberately playing his family against each other so he can take the throne, rather than only doing so temporarily out of concern for Zuko's health. Even afterwards, Iroh merely apologizes without explaining that he was worried Zuko would work himself to death. This destroys Zuko’s trust in him, and undermines everything for the peace process.

** ---> [[spoiler:'''Iroh:''' Zuko, don't do this. You don't ''need'' to agree with me, that is not why I want you as heir—]]\\
[[spoiler:'''Zuko:''' The last time I disagreed, you ''dethroned ''me.]]

* RealityEnsues:

* ReflexiveResponse: When Katara pops the cork on her waterskin, Zuko dodges to the side before he even consciously realizes what the sound is.
* RefuseToRescueTheDisliked: [[spoiler: When Zuko has a heart-attack in the middle of the reparations, Katara initially tries to refuse to help him.]] Toph attempts to non-verbally call Katara out by socking her in the arm, Katara responds by freezing her own feet to the ground. Had Iroh not made her, Katara would have been content [[spoiler: to watch Zuko die]].
* ReluctantRuler: Zuko doesn't want to be Fire Lord, and doesn't believe anyone else does either. He's just going to keep doing his job until he literally can't. [[spoiler: When presented with being named Crown Prince after Iroh takes over, he realizes he doesn't care about being in charge anymore.]]
** For that matter, [[spoiler: ''Iroh'' would have be happy to sit back and remain an elder advisor to his nephew if it were not for Zuko's refusal to take care of his precarious health, or to make Iroh regent.]]
* RejectedApology: [[spoiler: After the Agni Kai and ousting Zuko from the position of Fire Lord, Iroh gets on his knees and begs for Zuko's forgiveness. Zuko doesn't remotely forgive Iroh for undermining him, undoing his efforts as Fire Lord and making him relive his worst trauma. He doesn't even think that Iroh is being sincere.]]
* SacredHospitality: Fire Lord Zuko's respond to the Gaang's arrival to give them the palace's best hospitality, give them the rooms they want so they can feel safe, have his servants cater to them and try to be a good host. The Gaang's response is to be constantly rude to Zuko's face (all of them), constantly accuse Zuko of poisoning them (Sokka), threatening to attack Zuko thinking that he wouldn't hear (Katara), making impossible demands (Aang) and be rude to all the servants (the original Gaang). Toph even points out that Zuko is lying when he's trying to say it was nice to have them.
* SanitySlippage: Neither Azula or Zuko are in a good place mentally, and the arrival of the Gaang only makes things worse. By Chapter 15 Azula is actively hallucinating and two chapters later Zuko starts disassociating.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere:
** [[spoiler: After Iroh defeats Zuko in the very one-sided Agni Kai, all the servants who called out Iroh leave [[InventedInvalid "to visit their sick relatives"]] in fear of Iroh executing them.]]
** Zuko [[spoiler: turns his back on Iroh and walks away when he refuses to reinstated as Crown Prince after Iroh usurped him]].
* SelectiveObliviousness:
** After [[spoiler:overthrowing Zuko as Fire Lord]], Iroh mentions how things have returned to normal regarding the servants, not realizing things changed because the servants adored Zuko and [[spoiler: think Iroh is just as much a tyrant as Ozai and Azulon]].
** Zuko thinks his servants are insubordinate because they detest him when they're actually trying to make him rest because they adore Zuko and can tell he's literally working himself to death.
* SeriouslyScruffy: Zuko lets his self-care go as he's too busy trying to rebuild his nation. The only reason he isn't worse is due to the efforts of his servants.
* ShutUpKirk:
** When Zuko calls out Iroh for never informing him that he worked for the White Lotus, Iroh tries to insist Zuko was still too obsessed with pleasing his father, only for Zuko to retort that he was obsessed because he thought he had no other options.
** ---> [[spoiler:'''Iroh:''' Zuko, don't do this. You don't ''need'' to agree with me, that is not why I want you as heir—]]\\
[[spoiler:'''Zuko:''' The last time I disagreed, you ''dethroned ''me.]]
* SlippingAMickey: Iroh has Azula's food and tea drugged with sedatives [[spoiler: to forcibly transport her to a mental asylum]]. While Azula didn't touch the food, she eventually succumbed due to drinking the tea.
* SpannerInTheWorks: Iroh's plan [[spoiler: to subdue Azula to get her into a mental hospital]] would have gone off without a hitch, had Lady Huian not warned her ahead of time.
* SpareToTheThrone: Zuko, having been TheUnfavorite his entire life and only crowned because of Azula's breakdown views himself as “the nation's fallback heir”.
* SpottingTheThread: Old Sakura warns her employee Shenji to stop using Earth Kingdom curses as it'll immediately out him as a halfbreed and see him burned. Shenji also keeps his head down so people won't notice his green eyes, something almost no one in the Fire Nation has. [[spoiler: He's actually a Dai Li spy.]]
* StatingTheSimpleSolution:
** Katara wonders why they are even bothering to negotiate with Zuko. They could kill or imprison him and replace him with Iroh.
** Toph notes that Zuko could have kept his mouth shut [[spoiler: and accepted becoming Crown Prince again to protect the Fire Nation from the influence of White Lotus. As Iroh's heir, Zuko would still have influence to fix things.]] After all what Iroh and the Gaang put him through, Zuko refuses to even consider it.
* SureLetsGoWithThat: Shenji, a young man working at a food stall, goes along with the idea he's a halfbreed who decides to [[InventedInvalid visit sick relatives]] after [[spoiler:Iroh takes the throne]]. In reality, [[spoiler: he's a young Dai Li spy, and needs to report recent events back to his superiors]].

** Chit Sang, a prisoner in the Boiling Rock, ended up there because he corrected the spelling on the treasonous pamphlets some university kids were handing out.

* DoWrongRight: When Azula hears Zuko go LaughingMad, she chides him for not making his laugh creepy enough.

* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: Mai is incredibly angry at Zuko for leaving to commit treason against his father and only leaving her a ''letter'' [[spoiler: and not too impressed that it took him so long to try and free her and Ty Lee from prison, but as soon as Hakoda and Suki even ''hint'' at actually harming Zuko instead of holding him hostage as leverage she points her knives at them and makes it very clear that her camraderis with them only extends so far.]]

* PoorCommunicationKills:
** Everyone suffers from this to varying degrees but most pronounced with Iroh, who is frankly terrible at being open with what he's doing and why. Most noticeably, he doesn't properly explain beforehand why [[spoiler:he challenged Zuko to an Agni Kai, so the whole thing is seen as Iroh deliberately playing his family against each other so he can take the throne, rather than only doing so temporarily out of concern for Zuko's health]]. Even afterwards, Iroh merely apologizes without explaining that he was worried Zuko would work himself to death.

* ArcWords: Lots of variations upon someone "going to visit sick relatives," which in Fire Court speaks means "I am leaving the capital because I'm afraid the Fire Lord will kill me. Zuko is pretty much the only Fire Nation citizen who takes this literally, so when he says it to Iroh's face when he abdicates the crown, what he means is "I'm going to go see Azula," while everybody else hears "I need to get out of here before your new Fire Lord kills me," which sets off the rumbling of starting a civil war. Azula finds Zuko's ignorance the most hilarious thing ever, and it is not until chapter 23 he finally learns what everyone heard him say.

* ThickerThanWater: While their relationship is ''deeply'' flawed from a lifetime of abuse, Zuko and Azula love each other dearly and would go to great lengths for one another. They are also the only family members left they can trust.

* ShutUpKirk: When Zuko calls out Iroh for never informing him that he worked for the White Lotus, Iroh tries to insist Zuko was still too obsessed with pleasing his father, only for Zuko to retort that he was obsessed because he thought he had no other options.

* SureLetsGoWithThat: Shenji, a young man working at a food stall, goes along with the idea he's a halfbreed who decides to [[InventedInvalid visit sick relatives]] after [[spoiler:Iroh takes the throne]]. In reality, [[spoiler: he's a young Dai Li spy and needs to report recent events back to his superiors]].

* ThickerThanWater: While their relationship is ''deeply'' flawed from a lifetime of abuse, Zuko and Azula love each other dearly and would go to great lengths for one another.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Zuko is ''really'' bad at being good and has no clue what his actions in Chapter 18 started. Specifically, [[spoiler:his denouncement of Iroh in such a public setting, not to mention his word choice, convinced the nation that Iroh was untrustworthy and kicked off a civil war.]]

** Chapter 18: [[spoiler: Zuko refuses to made Crown Prince again and unintentionally starts a civil war.]]

** Fire Sage Fujio implictly rebuked Iroh for not pressing his claim against Ozai to begin with in spite of the shady way Azulon died.

** Those Fire Nation ships Aang took out while channeling the Ocean Spirit in Season 1? This story confirms that he killed over a thousand soldiers doing so.

** With Kuei going missing and not telling anyone where he went as he went WalkingTheEarth, many people believed that he [[EatenAlive was eaten by his bear]] once his bear got hungry. A ShelteredAristocrat that never had to fend for himself set lose to wander a war-torn countryside full of bandits and wild beasts isn't likely to live very long... and that's ''without'' TemptingFate by traveling with a large, poorly-trained, apex predator big enough to kill and eat him when it goes hungry.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Zuko is the first Fire Lord in decades to openly care about his people and their safety over personal ambitions. He actively engages with his staff in the palace, working with and listening to them to find the best ways to help the nation recover.

** For that matter, [[spoiler: ''Iroh'' would have be happy to sit back and remain an elder advisor to his nephew if it were not for Zuko's refusal to take care of his precarious health.]]

* GrayAndGreyMorality: Both Zuko and the Gaang both want the war to officially end and start an age of peace. Unfortunately they both have very different ideas of what peace looks like and different people they want to help and protect.

* HourglassPlot: Both Zuko and Azula attempted to capture the Gaang to prevent rebellion against Fire Lord Ozai. [[spoiler: Now the Gaang have to capture Zuko and Azula to prevent rebellion against Fire Lord Iroh.]]

** Aang is very confused as to why his choice of sparing Ozai by taking his bending instead utterly horrifies Zuko and his court.

* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Azula shoots lightning at Zuko constantly, which has resulted in him having lightning-induced arrhythmia and all the heart problems that come with the condition. Zuko doesn't care, he has things to do.

---> [[spoiler:'''Iroh''']]:[[spoiler: Fire Lord Zuko. Under Agni's sight and before the court, I challenge you for the dragon throne.]]

---> [[spoiler:'''Zuko''']]: [[spoiler: I've already been Fire Lord. I won't be a prince again.]]

** Iroh's usurption against Zuko has done a lot of damage to his reputation. To the point that in chapter 23 [[spoiler:when Suki and Hakoda have the chance to escape the prison to be the new Fire Lord's 'honoured guests,' they adamantly refuse. They know that Iroh is working with the Avatar, but they are both so mistrusting of him they think they would be worse off with him. So Azula's offer of helping cause a civil war sounds much better.

* UnintentionalBackupPlan: [[spoiler: At the end of his CallingTheOldManOut speech during his attempted coronation]], Zuko leaves the stage after telling Iroh that he's going to visit sick relatives. Zuko was afraid that people would go after him [[spoiler: while he breaks Azula out from the asylum]]. Everyone failed to realize that Zuko meant that literally until it was too late.

** Mai and Ty Lee want to break Suki out of the Boiling Rock and Suki wants to break out Hakoda as well. [[spoiler:All four of them were being given royal pardons and would've been freed if they'd just waited another hour.]]

** With Kuei going missing and not telling anyone where he went as he went WalkingTheEarth, many people believed that he [[EatenAlive was eaten by his bear]] once his bear got hungry. A ShelteredAristocrat that never had to fend for himself or his pet is very likely to be dead.